It's past midnight, but the train station, south of central Berlin, is still busy, and as one of the railway hubs in east-central Germany, there are constant trains coming in and out from morning to night.

"E177, E235, B650, P129, P588......" In the duty room of platform 5, a staff member in black uniform softly reads the numbers on a sheet of paper, and the pencil in his hand is still lightly scratching on the paper.

After double-checking, the 47-year-old attendant finally put away the train schedule and timetable satisfied, and in his opinion it would be another peaceful night, and in a few minutes he would be able to hand over his shift normally. Although it is rarely talked about, the shadow of that bloody night a year ago is still in the minds of Chahas and his colleagues—on that coup night, a large number of troops involved in the coup d'état entered Berlin by rail, watching a large number of heavily armed soldiers swarm out of the train, watching the black hole gun pointed at him, and at that moment Chahaas almost peed his pants.

Since then, not only the bosses have demanded strict demands, but the attendants at the Berlin railway station themselves have treated their work with ten times more caution, for fear that they will let the saboteurs enter the imperial capital because of their own negligence. Fortunately, more than 11 months have passed, and not even a small mistake has happened to everyone!

"Hey, Uncle Chahaas, what are you thinking?"

A familiar voice woke Chahaas out of his thoughts, and he looked up to see that it was Oswald, a young man with warm and lively blonde hair, who had come to work with him.

"Oh, nothing! Ahem, you came on time today! Chahaas said as he picked up the train schedule and timetable, signed it at the bottom, and handed it to the visitor.

Oswald scratched the back of his head a little embarrassed, he was busy with a relationship during this time, and it was inevitable that he would come from his girlfriend's house later than before, so that several times he had asked Chahaas to wait for him after the shift time.

"Whoa! Double-check, not a single train has been delayed so far! Chahaas didn't say anything more, after all, he was a man himself.

"Okay. Thank you, uncle! Let me see...... Well...... Well...... Everything is fine! As usual, Oswald read it carefully and signed it.

"Okay, I'll go back first!" As he spoke, Chahaas walked towards the door, and at that moment, a whistle of "woo" came from the south.

Oswald hurriedly picked up the timetable and walked out, and when he walked past Chahaas, he didn't forget to say: "It's okay, uncle, you can go first!" ”

Before Chahaas could say anything, he was stunned by the sight in front of him!

The train that blew its whistle was still some distance from the station. But on the other side of the platform, there was a soldier's figure, a large group of soldiers wearing steel helmets and rifles in their hands, running towards this side!

"God, there shouldn't be a military column today!" Chahaas was all too familiar with the train schedule for that day, and he didn't see the word "K" representing the military train in the train number of this day!

"This ......" Oswald was so shocked that he couldn't even speak, and he was about to turn and run away, but Chahaas grabbed him.

"Don't move if you don't want to die!"

Chahas is a person who has experienced some of the world, not to mention that the history is so strikingly similar. The two of them stood stupidly like this, and some of the other attendants on the platform were also at a loss, and some even turned around and ran, in short, none of them dared to resist the heavily armed guys.

In less than 5 minutes. Berlin's train station seems to have returned to the state it was 11 months ago – occupied by a group of inexplicable soldiers. The only people who were hurt in the process were a few watchmen who tried to call and report to their superiors. The rest of the staff, including Chahaas and Oswald, were locked in a large room.

On the platform, a major officer with a collar badge marked "415" shouted at his soldiers:

"Notify the subsequent train to enter the station. After entering the station, the troops quickly assembled in a company unit, and after half an hour, they marched to the palace! ”

Soon after, a large number of soldiers poured down from the trains, with the numbers "415" and "416" and "417" for their collar badges, and from these numbers alone, at least 10 regiments of soldiers came here by rail.

At the same time, more than 100 ordinary German army soldiers dressed as raiders finally reluctantly withdrew from General Matthew's residence after an unsuccessful search, and Admiral Lucas Matthew. The commander of the Janissaries in Berlin was observing the situation outside from a hidden fortification not far from his residence. In addition to the power station and the material warehouse, which was located deep underground, there were elevators, rooms divided into four floors for office lodging, and a large communication room with seven transmitters, where hundreds of officers and soldiers were busy in an orderly manner.

In addition to the facilities, the fortification also had several secret passages that extended outward, one of which ended in General Matthew's bedroom, which is why the raiders knew that Matthew was in the dwelling but could not find him. Despite escaping without any danger, Matthew was amazed at the enemy's combat prowess. His combat power was equivalent to that of an infantry company, and the ground guard was actually wiped out by the opponent in just ten minutes. You know, these are the best fighters in a hundred!

"Let's keep our people up and find the nest of this group!" Matthew gritted his teeth and gave the order, what he wanted to do most at this time was to wipe out the enemy, which could be regarded as a consolation to the young lives in his guard.

"Yes, General!" The adjutant turned to deliver the order, when another officer came from the communications room.

"General, there was an explosion in the Berlin telephone office building, the fire brigade and the police are rushing there! The cause of the explosion and casualties are now uncertain, but now most of the telephone lines in Berlin are broken! ”

Before Matthew could speak, another officer walked briskly from the other side of the communication room, who was holding a telegraph in his hand, and the expression on his face did not look very good.

"General, no! The train station has been occupied by unknown persons, and an ominous number of troops are pressing on the palace! ”

Matthew hurriedly took the telegram and glanced at it simply and quickly, but there was obviously no trace of anything unusual on his face. In that massive underground fortification there is a large model of the city about 10 meters long and wide, over time. The officers constantly adjusted the small flags that represented the various military forces. Among them, the flags that had previously occupied the railway station were moving towards the Imperial Palace in the eastern part of the city, and it was not only the same way that moved towards the Imperial Palace.

Soon after, the staff officers discovered that the telephone lines leading to the Praetorian Guard barracks were out of order, as this particular military telephone line did not pass through the Berlin Telephone Office, and was usually a separate double line, so that the chance of non-human failure was very small. However, General Matthew did not seem to be alarmed in the slightest, and he immediately had his communications officer switch to radio communication. At the same time, the orders that seem to have been prepared are conveyed one after another.

As the small flag representing the invaders in the city model gradually surrounded the palace, General Matthew also received a telegram from General Vogue, the commander of the Praetorian Guard guarding the palace:

"The enemy has surrounded the palace, and the commander of the opposing party, Archduke Edel Friedrich, has issued a telegram to disarm and surrender within 10 minutes!"

"Ettel Friedrich, hum!" Matthew crumpled the telegram and threw it into the fireplace next to him.

"Inform General Louden Kerber and let him cast fireworks all over the city as planned!"

"Flowers?" The officer who brought the telegram hesitated, but the commander of the forbidden army in front of him didn't seem to be joking at all, and his composure was by no means due to his identity and face. Looking at Matthew's determined expression, the officer saluted with both feet and "snapped":

"Yes. Checkmate! ”

Matthew turned around alone and looked out at the already dark world outside. Although all this was expected, he was still full of emotion in his heart at this time.

"I don't know how the people of the country will feel when they know that the palace has been attacked by others!" Matthew thought to himself, "I hope it will be as Your Majesty says." Sooner or later, people will realize that the substance of things is much more important than the form! ”

A few minutes later, countless colorful flowers bloomed over Berlin, and the sound of crackling was heard throughout the night sky. The scene is like a spring breeze blowing through the grass with thousands of flowers blooming, and like stones thrown into the lake to stir up countless ripples, people seem to be in Berlin on a grand festival day, the starry night sky is incomparably brilliant against the backdrop of the flowers.

This sudden fireworks immediately attracted the attention of most Berliners, and at the same time greatly reduced the panic caused by the explosion of the telephone office, just as the captain ordered the fireworks to be set off before the Titanic was about to sink.

It is not known that this fireworks display will last until dawn. And the whole process will consume more than a million fireworks!

For the fireworks that he personally ordered, General Matthew did not have the time and mood to appreciate them.

Outside the imposing palace, the confrontation between the putschists and the defenders did not stop because of the constant blooming flowers in the sky, and after a little hesitation, the spirits of the soldiers on both sides returned to that simmering state of tension.

Archduke Edel Friedrich, one of Wilhelm II's favorite sons, stood in front of the palace that belonged to his father, dressed in military uniform, and watched the soldiers loyal to him surround the imposing gate, although the battle had not yet begun. The Grand Duke already looks like he has a chance to win.

Friedrich did not give a damn about the fireworks in the sky, in his opinion it was just a small trick by the opponent to interfere with himself, which did not play a role in the overall situation at all. You must know that he has been preparing for this day for a long time, and since the day William III ascended the throne, the young prince has been determined to take the throne back. For this reason, he did not hesitate to endure humiliation and show favor to the new emperor, and since then he has lived a decadent and erosive life. On the surface, he gradually distanced himself from his former cronies, but secretly continued to develop his own power, and after promising to be a high-ranking official, some generals who relied on sloppy horses to climb to high positions but fell out of favor in front of the new emperor, a group of frustrated officers of the old Praetorian Guard, and even the deputy chief of the Berlin police department became "righteous men" who obeyed his orders. In addition to this, he was supported by Field Marshal Goltz, who was quite prestigious in the army. Although the meritorious marshal has taken a back seat, the officer he has raised with one hand has an unusual admiration for him.

In this way, Friedrich's power continued to grow in a state of secrecy, and a considerable network of interpersonal intelligence relations was gradually forming. However, the coup d'état in Friedrich's plan was not yet at this time, because he knew very well that he did not yet have the strength to directly confront the emperor, and the people had basically accepted the new Kaiser who would lead Germany to a complete defeat of Britain and create a favorable international environment for Germany. To launch a coup d'état now, Friedrich only said "this is not an opportunity".

At first, Field Marshal Goltz did not agree with this plan, because in his opinion it was an extremely risky move. At the beginning of the war, he coldly observed the new and old German generals, and he had the impression that the current Kaiser and a group of his backbones were very powerful characters, and if he did not stick to his original oath, he would rather choose to stay away from this dangerous power struggle. However, the old marshal eventually compromised under Friedrich's positive and urgent attitude.

From now on, although the coup d'état did not have much time to prepare, and the army supporting the coup d'état was also numerically inferior to the Berlin Praetorian Guard, but in the form it was very advantageous - the destruction of the Berlin communication center, the raid and abduction of a number of high-ranking army and navy generals, and the siege of the Imperial Palace, while the Berlin Janissaries, which totaled 120,000, were not only unprepared but also scattered in various barracks in the city and suburbs, and the total number of coup troops gathered outside the Imperial Palace was only 30,000, However, compared to the less than 3,000 guards in the palace, it has a tenfold advantage, and the coup army has already controlled all the area within 2 kilometers of the palace, and the barricades blocking the junction will soon be completed, and the chances of victory for the putschists seem to have increased considerably.

In Friedrich's view, as soon as the palace fell, he rescued the former queen and the former crown prince and used them to create a just change to "save the royal family", and those who supported him in the government and the army would come out to respond, and then he could rightfully ascend to the throne, and the Wilhelm III who visited the United States could only go into exile.

"Listen, everyone, the capture of this palace is a victory, and the empire is taken back from the usurper!" Friedrich encouraged his soldiers in this way, and the crowd erupted in a tsunami of cheers.